Back to the Future (RLE Social Theory)

Is modernity being replaced by an opposite culture of postmodernity, or is postmodernism simply an internal critique of modernist culture? This key question is central to this stimulating book which explores the transformations taking place in social life, cultural preferences, economic organization and political attitudes, particularly in the context of the contemporary city as a lived or written experience. This book contains accounts of the development of modern ways of life and their erosion in the 20th century. The author argues that a whole set of modern institutions, from the corporation to the novel, are being exposed to internal critique and external competition. As a result, new ways of seeing and thinking are moving us into what some observers see as postmodern culture. However, these tendencies may in fact be the continuation of modernity by other means.

Cooke, Philip

1. The Question of Modernity 1.1. Modern Life 1.2. Modernity as Emancipation and Anxiety 1.3. The Aesthetics of Modernism 1.4. The Modern nation-State 1.5. The Cities and Regions of Modernity 2. Community: The Social Residue of Modernity 2.1. Modernity versus Community 2.2. Community as Culture 2.3. Community as Power 2.4. Community as Justice 2.5. Community as History 3. Modern Times: The Fordist Worker 3.1. From Craftsmanship to Scientific Management 3.2. Modernity and the Development of Fordism 3.3. Fordism Beyond the Workplace 3.4. The Geographical Structures of Fordism 3.5. The Crisis of Global Fordism 4. The Question of Postmodernity 4.1. Modernism Under Fire 4.2. Postmodern Thinking and the Problem of Philosophy 4.3. Postmodern Fiction 4.4. Postmodern Architecture 4.5. The Critique of Postmodernism 5. Locality and Social Innovation 5.1. Localism versus Centralism 5.2. Locality in a Polarising Society 5.3. Local Potential and the Status of 'Locality' 5.4. Locality and Citizenship 5.5. Local Control and its Obstacles 6. Post-Fordism and the Flexible Future 6.1. The Global Setting 6.2. The Postmodern Corporation? 6.3. Japanese Business Methods 6.4. Post-Fordist Technology and Labour 6.5. Industrial Localities 7. Conclusions: Modernity and Locality: Critique and Renewal